Xiaolin Lao

Xiaolin Lao is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy and the UCD Spatial Dynamics Lab (SDL).

Her research focuses on community resilience, vulnerable communities, participatory planning and climate governance, particularly on how community-based adaptation can address pre-existing vulnerabilities and support more equitable and transformative forms of climate resilience.

She holds a PhD in Planning and Environmental Policy from UCD, where her research examined urban heat vulnerability and community-based adaptation in Xi’an, China. Her current postdoctoral research extends this work to transformative adaptation, examining how engagement, local knowledge and institutional conditions shape the planning, implementation and evaluation of climate adaptation interventions, including nature-based solutions.